In the team’s weekly update, Portalarium also tauted the launch of Release 29, which includes 40 new scenes, a new playable storyline, a new targeting UI, and new player-run towns. Check out images of some of the scenes:

Aw, do we have to have a whole list of betas just below? Yes. Yes we do. It’s right there, and if something slipped into a different test phase without us realizing it, we want to know. The comments are good for that.

Shroud of the Avatar is only a few months away from its all-but-in-name summer launch, and as such each patch from here on out carries with it a heavier weight of responsibility to get the game ready for prime time. Today the team pushed out Release 29, which contains significant adjustments for the future of the game.

“We are also critically appraising our feature set and making sure each and every feature is as it should be for those critical events of Release 32,” Starr Long wrote. “With those thoughts in mind, we looked at a few key aspects of the game related to housing, crafting, and targeting and made some important changes in Release 29. These changes were not easy, nor were they without controversy, but we believe they are changes that need to be made for the long term health of the project.”

The biggest changes include using a targeting reticle to make interaction modal, the sale of lot deeds within player-owned-towns, and the integration of the recipe book to the station interface. Release 29 also includes 40 more scenes, which should make up for the full wipe that the patch requires.

Shroud of the Avatar is planning a 10-hour streaming event it’s calling the Spring Festival of the Avatar Telethon next week. On May 2nd starting at 1 p.m. EDT, the developers will be fundraising live in an attempt to secure upgraded pledges, add-on items, towns, and vouchers from the game’s current and future players.

There was not one, but two big gaming conventions this past weekend, and Massively OP reporters were on the ground at both PAX East and EVE Fanfest! Join us for a lively and informative hour of con reports from Eliot and Brendan. What can they glean about the future of MMOs from these shows? Find out!

It’s the Massively OP Podcast, an action-packed hour of news, tales, opinions, and gamer emails! And remember, if you’d like to send in your own letter to the show, use the “Tips” button in the top-right corner of the site to do so.

It might seem as if Shroud of the Avatar has been in early access for a very long time, probably because it has. Technically, it’s still in an early access state. But according to Richard Garriott, whom I spoke to at this year’s PAX East, a great deal of that has to do with the fact that our traditional terms for test phases have little to no meaning any longer. The game is on Release 28, its servers have been up aside from scheduled maintenance for more than a year, there have been no unexpected patches of downtime. In every way, it’s ready for something closer to release.

So this year is the year of its “release,” but it’s also not really that big of a change. In July, the final character wipe will take place, freeing players from any concern of lost data and marking the de facto launch of the MMO side of the game. By December, the first episode of the game’s story content will be fully released. At that point, the game is out and it’s launched, so if you want to mark your calendars accordingly, it’s 2016 as the year of the launch.

The MMO industry moves along at the speed of information, and sometimes we’re deluged with so much news here at Massively Overpowered that some of it gets backlogged. That’s why there’s The MOP Up: a weekly compilation of smaller MMO stories and videos that you won’t want to miss. Seen any good MMO news? Hit us up through our tips line!

This week in MMO crowdfunding news, Camelot Unchained’s devs revealed that they will not make their planned target for beta. The beta phase has been postponed while the game’s ability code is refactored to properly handle what the design team is throwing at it.

Meanwhile, Fragmented dropped its NDA and prepped for its early access launch next week, Star Citizen invoked “minimal viable product” verbiage, and Origins of Malu put its development on hold indefinitely while it attempts to secure other funding.

Read on for more on what’s up with MMO crowdfunding this week and the roundup of all the crowdfunded MMOs we’ve got our eye on!

The MMO industry moves along at the speed of information, and sometimes we’re deluged with so much news here at Massively Overpowered that some of it gets backlogged. That’s why there’s The MOP Up: a weekly compilation of smaller MMO stories and videos that you won’t want to miss. Seen any good MMO news? Hit us up through our tips line!

This week in MMO crowdfunding news, space games have dominated the headlines. Indie Kickstarted sandbox Ascent: The Space Game formally launched out of early access into the wilds of fully live games, and Elite: Dangerous announced that the beta for its next big update, Engineers, will be live within the month. Star Citizen, meanwhile, announced a new concept ship, the MISC Prospector, that made eyebrows rise on even the normally CIG-friendly Star Citizen subreddit. The ship costs $140 now and is expected to rise as it progresses from concept to hangar to actual playability. (Thanks, Cotic!)

Just a year after Crowfall’sKickstarter was successfully funded, ArtCraft this week kicked off Siege Perilous, a targeted test of part of the castle siege system (read: woot, catapults). That puts the game in pre-alpha 1.3, for those counting along at home.

“Unfortunately we are under a Denial of Service attack from at least one source (perhaps multiple) that started at 3:00 AM CDT. We are blocking them as quickly as we can. If you are getting ALTAIR9000 disconnect messages that is the cause. We apologize for the inconvenience and we are working hard to solve this issue as quickly as we can.”